Greg Daniels

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In his nearly three-and-a-half hour Archive interview, Greg Daniels discusses writing for "The Harvard Lampoon," which led to a job writing for HBO's Not Necessarily the News. He recalls his early writing partner Conan O'Brien and writing for Saturday Night Live and Fox's short-lived late night show The Wilton North Report. He describes writing an episode of Seinfeld and being hired to write for The Simpsons, where he contributed many classic episodes including "Homer and Apu" and "Lisa's Wedding." Daniels then talks about adapting the British series The Office for an American audience. He discusses casting the series, getting the right tone, and creating interesting story arcs. He talks of the departure of Steve Carell from The Office and ending the show after nine seasons. He also outlines the creation of Parks and Recreation, and comments on his plans for the then-future. Karen Herman conducted the interview on April 5, 2013 in Van Nuys, CA.

"When I agreed to do The Office, the British version was not airing anywhere in America. When it did, everybody in the comedy world realized how great it was and it put a lot of pressure on us. All in the Family never had to compete with its British counterpart, but we did."